Philippines receives 5,000 COVID-19 test kits from Singapore

March 26 ------ The Philippines received 5,000 test kits for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from the Singaporean Government on Wednesday, the Department of Health (DOH) announced. At a virtual press briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the donated test kits will still undergo validation before they are distributed to sub-national laboratories that are conducting COVID-19 testing across the country.

“Maaasahan po natin na ang mga kits na ito ay mava-validate sa mga susunod na araw at agarang ipamamahagi sa ating mga sub-national laboratories,” she said. The health official also said that the DOH is currently distributing 3,800 test kits to the different sub-national laboratories. Of this number, 1,300 were donated by the World Health Organization, 2,000 were from China, while 500 came from the Udenna Foundation in South Korea. An additional 4,167 test kits capable of conducting 100,000 tests are likewise being distributed to laboratories.

The DOH earlier said between 950 to 1,000 COVID-19 tests are conducted per day after several sub-national laboratories became operational. The online tracker of the DOH shows that 1,961 tests have been conducted so far. COVID-19 has claimed 38 lives and infected 636 people in the Philippines as of Wednesday afternoon. 

Source: gmanetwork.com